By Cheryl Jahn

Something’s fishy in Vanderhoof

Nov 27, 2023 | 2:44 PM

VANDERHOOF – In Vanderhoof, there’s a giant hole in the ground behind the sturgeon fish hatchery. It will eventually be a fishing pond.

“It’s going to be stocked with rainbow trout that are sterile and it’s going to be a catch and release,” explains Mike Manky the hatchery manager with Freshwater Fisheries BC. “And we’ll have staff here to help kids learn how to fish. And so there are other projects in the province that our organization has done similar to this, and they’re very successful and well.”

Vanderhoof has a fishy history releasing hundreds of sturgeon fry into the National River every year. “The hatchery has been here for 11 years,” explains Wayne Salewski, Chair of the Nechako Environment Water Stewardship Society. “So that’s a huge fish pond that would be most familiar to people. The relationship is really simple. We want kids, families, everybody here, including new immigrants, to learn about the value of fishing here and that whole wonderful world that it presents when you’re outdoors and British Columbia.”

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The pond is located right behind the Sturgeon Hatchery and there is a link to it.

“The effluent from the Sturgeon hatchery typically just goes to ground and drains to ground. It’s a very little bit of water because of the efficiency of the Sturgeon hatchery, but now we’re actually taking that a little bit of water to fill this pond,” says Manky. “And so it’s just an extra use of that water before it goes back to the ground. And so, yeah, like location-wise it makes sense. ”

The hope is this pond will become a tourist attraction just as the hatchery is.

“We typically have about 3,000 visitors take a tour through the facility in the summer and this is just going to add to that and bring more people in,” adds Manky.

But there is another drive. The money raised from the sale of a fishing license in this pond helps to fund the hatchery.

“This here is a teaser here,” says Salewski. “We can get kids that opportunity to do that and find that thrill at some point in time they’re going to buy that fishing license and that money is dedicated for fish in British Columbia. So Freshwater Fisheries is charged with recruitment retention as part of their mandate that is there.”

The hope is to have the pond stocked and ready to go next summer.